There exist many types of systems or structures, such as electrical, mechanical, software, and civil engineering structures, that must be tested during design and implementation phases. Each of these systems or structures may be thought of as having one or more elements and one or more nodes that serve as connection points to the elements. For example, a node may serve as an interconnection between two or more elements. In an electrical circuit, for instance, one or more electrical elements may be connected by nodes that interconnect the electrical elements. Likewise, a bridge is commonly made up of a number of wooden beams interconnected by bolts. A node may additionally be considered a connection point that connects an element to something else. For instance, a node may serve as a connection point to an external environment in which the structure is situated. Or, a node may serve as an input or output point of an element. In light of these definitions of a node, it is possible to have a structure having only one element and one node, two or more elements and one or more nodes, or one or more elements and two or more nodes, etc.
It is critical to the successful implementation of such a structure that structural and behavioral information about the elements and nodes of the structure be analyzed in some form or fashion during the design phase of the structure. Structural information is concerned with how elements and nodes interact with respect to one another. The structure of an element or node, or a group of elements and nodes, can affect the behavior of other elements or nodes or groups of elements and nodes. Behavioral information is concerned with how elements and nodes, or groups of elements and nodes, react to stimuli to which they are subjected. The stimuli may be long term stimuli, as in the case of hot electrons in an electrical structure or rust in a mechanical structure, or short term stimuli, such as changes in voltage, temperature, or load conditions. For instance, the load condition of a bridge changes as a person drives across it; this change is temporary and is therefore a short term stimuli.
Structural and behavioral information of the elements and nodes will of course vary according to the type of structure being analyzed. For instance, voltages and capacitances at various nodes of an electrical circuit are typically critical indicators of proper operation of the circuit. In the case of an electrical circuit, a netlist, or external representation of the circuit, simply specifies the physical interconnections or nodes between the electrical elements without providing information about various electrical parameters or measurements at those nodes. A netlist, then, is by itself insufficient to provide needed information about the nodes of an electrical circuit.
There is therefore an unmet need in the art to be able to obtain and analyze structural and behavior information about elements and nodes of a system or structure during the design phase of the system or structure.